Have an Apple TV? Stream RootsTech 2015 to your HDTV!

Apple TV If you are wanting to watch some of the sessions that are being streamed from RootsTech 2015, and you have an Apple TV and a compatible device, it’s very easy to stream to your HDTV, thanks to AirPlay.

On your compatible Mac or iOS device (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch), just load up the RootsTech 2015 website in your browser, and have it stream (mirror) through AirPlay to your Apple TV/HDTV. You can find the full streaming schedule here, and remember that all times listed are Mountain Standard Time (MST). The first session starts in half an hour (at 9:30 am if you’re in CST like I am).

Regardless of which method you use, you will need a 2nd Generation Apple TV or later. I have confirmed that the RootsTech website’s streaming is compatible with iOS devices, on an iPad 2 running iOS 8.1.3

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Jan 21, 2015 Updates: LastPass for Mac, CrashPlan, iPhoto Library Manager

LastPass iPhoto Library CrashPlan Three interesting updates/releases for Mac users – LastPass, the password manager, has finally been released for OS X users, and iPhoto Library Manager 4.1.11 and CrashPlan 3.7 (a cross-platform online/cloud backup service) have been released.

CrashPlan now has better support for OS X 10.10 Yosemite, but the big news is that LastPass, a popular cross-platform/cross-application password manager is now officially available for Mac users.

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Mac Bundle 5.0 at StackSocial – Good for Genealogists

Snapheal 2.0 The Mac Bundle 5.0 at StackSocial, a “Name Your Own Price” bundle, is one of the better deals for Mac-using genealogists, even if it doesn’t have any Mac OS X genealogy software in the bundle.

It ends on May 7th, and it comes with several applications, including software that would let you run Windows apps on your Mac (without needing to install Windows or run Boot Camp), an application that can remove unwanted objects from photos, as well as fix damaged photos (tears, scratches, etc.), data recovery software, and PDF/OCR software.

The apps I listed above are all very handy to a lot of genealogists, and can be had for under $10 (or more deepening on how much you feel it’s worth to you). If you paid full price for all of the apps, it would be over $800, and even the apps I singled out would cost $280.

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Snapheal 2.0 Released, 60% Off Sale

Snapheal 2.0 has been released, and this is a major update/upgrade over previous versions of Snapheal. It’s also on sale for 60% – $7.99 US (limited time) in the Mac App Store – Snapheal – Fix your photos. – MacPhun LLC.

Snapheal is a Mac OS X app that helps repair damaged photos (among other things). It can fix creases, tears, other unwanted objects and damage.

I have not used Snapheal, but for $7.99, I’m tempted to pick it up and try it out. I use a combination of Akvis Retoucher and Adobe Photoshop, which is an expensive combination. For those on a budget, Snapheal + iPhoto could get you a lot of the way there, depending on your goals, and Snapheal works with both iPhoto and Aperature – images can be imported from both, and then exported to both, as well as Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom.

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Adobe Photoshop CS6 – Open Beta for Mac & Windows

Adobe has posted a public beta of ADobe Photoshop CS6 – March 21, 2012. The Photoshop CS6 beta covers both Photoshop CS6 and Photoshop CS6 Extended – keep in mind that Extended has additional features that the normal Photoshop doesn’t have, such as 3D image editing.

Update – it is a 60-day trial edition.

Just over a month ago, I posted about a video that Adobe posted concerning Photoshop CS6’s Content Aware features. That’s one of many new or upgraded features.

Features of Photoshop CS6
– Aforementioned Content-Aware upgrades, such as “Content-Aware Patch”
– Increased performance from the “Mercury Graphics Engine”
– Upgraded User Interface, a “modern UI”
– “New and re-engineered design tools.”

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Apple’s New iPad, iPhoto Updates

By now you know that Apple’s new iPad has been officially announced. We won’t see it in stores until the 16th of March, but it’s a very nice update and in some ways better than expected. It’s being called their new iPad – not iPad 3 or iPad HD as … Read more